Humayun Rasheed Choudhury
Humayun Rasheed Choudhury’s role in protecting Bangabandhu’s daughters unforgettable: President
President Abdul Hamid on Thursday said the role of late Speaker Humayun Rasheed Choudhury in arranging political asylum for Bangabandhu’s two daughters after his assassination in 1975 will never be forgotten.
“Bangabandhu's two daughters were safe in his (Humayun’s) shelter for six days from August 15 to August 21 and he gave them mental strength and courage. He arranged political asylum for them in Delhi. This incomparable contribution of the late Speaker in time of their extreme danger can never be forgotten,” he said.
The President made the remarks while addressing a virtual discussion meeting on late Jatiya Sangsad Speaker Humayun Rasheed Choudhury.
Speaker Humayun Rasheed Choudhury Memorial Council (HRCMC) organised the event, marking the late Speaker’s 94th birth anniversary.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque and Labour and Employment Ministry Secretary Ehsan E Elahi also spoke at the programme with HRCMC president and former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Md Nojibur Rahman in the chair.
Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, a Singapore-based renowned scholar-diplomat and former Foreign Affairs Advisor of Bangladesh Caretaker Government, delivered the keynote speech titled “Humayun Rasheed Choudhury: My Memory of a Hero”.
President Abdul Hamid said Humayun Rasheed was the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Germany when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members was brutally assassinated on August 15, 1975.
At that time, he said, many politicians, bureaucrats, intellectuals and opportunists changed their stance overnight. “But Humayun Rasheed Choudhury was different. Neither greed nor the risk of life could deviate him from justice and ideals; he didn’t sell his conscience.”
The President said Bangabandhu’s daughters -- current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana -- fortunately escaped the bullets of the assassins as they were staying at the house of Sanaul Haque, a close associate of Bangabandhu and then Bangladesh Ambassador to Belgium.
3 years ago